Bruce Dickinson: Metal Vocalists Can Learn an Awful Lot From Babies

Bruce Dickinson, lead singer of Iron Maiden, airline pilot, author and much more, is full of unconventional advice. He recently appeared on British morning news show BBC Breakfast, to speak about his new autobiography What Does This Button Do? In the interview, Dickinson gives some direct advice to any aspiring metal musician, and that some of the greatest lessons can be taken from babies.

"There's a chapter [in my autobiography] about vocal technique and about how it all works, the voice works and things — just on a mechanical basis," Dickinson said. "And I make the point that you can learn an awful lot from babies. I mean, the racket that comes out of that tiny little thing. And it goes on forever — they don't lose their voice, do they, ever? Babies have got no fear of just letting rip with all their diaphragm and everything. And they've got these tiny little lungs. My God, they make an amazing noise. So you think about that, and you think when people say, 'Oh, I can't sing.' Oh, yes, you can — you've just forgotten how to do it."

His autobiography covers a lot of ground, stories of life and death and the many tribulations he faced through his life. In our interview, he spoke on having to deal with an in-air emergency while he was piloting a plane, though it wasn't what it seemed. "It wasn't like in the movies because nobody was screaming — there was no loud bang. In fact, it all went in slow time and [was] not a big drama. All the masks have dropped in the back of the cabin — is there a problem?"